---
title: generateText
description: API Reference for generateText.
---

# `generateText()`

Generates text and calls tools for a given prompt using a language model.

It is ideal for non-interactive use cases such as automation tasks where you need to write text (e.g. drafting email or summarizing web pages) and for agents that use tools.

```ts
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
import { generateText } from 'ai';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4-turbo'),
  prompt: 'Invent a new holiday and describe its traditions.',
});

console.log(text);
```

## Import

<Snippet text={`import { generateText } from "ai"`} prompt={false} />

## API Signature

### Parameters

<PropertiesTable
  content={[
    {
      name: 'model',
      type: 'LanguageModel',
      description: `The language model to use. Example: openai('gpt-4-turbo')`,
    },
    {
      name: 'system',
      type: 'string',
      description:
        'The system prompt to use that specifies the behavior of the model.',
    },
    {
      name: 'prompt',
      type: 'string',
      description: 'The input prompt to generate the text from.',
    },
    {
      name: 'messages',
      type: 'Array<CoreSystemMessage | CoreUserMessage | CoreAssistantMessage | CoreToolMessage>',
      description: 'A list of messages that represent a conversation.',
      properties: [
        {
          type: 'CoreSystemMessage',
          parameters: [
            {
              name: 'role',
              type: "'system'",
              description: 'The role for the system message.',
            },
            {
              name: 'content',
              type: 'string',
              description: 'The content of the message.',
            },
          ],
        },
        {
          type: 'CoreUserMessage',
          parameters: [
            {
              name: 'role',
              type: "'user'",
              description: 'The role for the user message.',
            },
            {
              name: 'content',
              type: 'string | Array<TextPart | ImagePart>',
              description: 'The content of the message.',
              properties: [
                {
                  type: 'TextPart',
                  parameters: [
                    {
                      name: 'type',
                      type: "'text'",
                      description: 'The type of the message part.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'text',
                      type: 'string',
                      description: 'The text content of the message part.',
                    },
                  ],
                },
                {
                  type: 'ImagePart',
                  parameters: [
                    {
                      name: 'type',
                      type: "'image'",
                      description: 'The type of the message part.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'image',
                      type: 'string | Uint8Array | Buffer | ArrayBuffer | URL',
                      description:
                        'The image content of the message part. String are either base64 encoded content, base64 data URLs, or http(s) URLs.',
                    },
                  ],
                },
              ],
            },
          ],
        },
        {
          type: 'CoreAssistantMessage',
          parameters: [
            {
              name: 'role',
              type: "'assistant'",
              description: 'The role for the assistant message.',
            },
            {
              name: 'content',
              type: 'string | Array<TextPart | ToolCallPart>',
              description: 'The content of the message.',
              properties: [
                {
                  type: 'TextPart',
                  parameters: [
                    {
                      name: 'type',
                      type: "'text'",
                      description: 'The type of the message part.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'text',
                      type: 'string',
                      description: 'The text content of the message part.',
                    },
                  ],
                },
                {
                  type: 'ToolCallPart',
                  parameters: [
                    {
                      name: 'type',
                      type: "'tool-call'",
                      description: 'The type of the message part.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'toolCallId',
                      type: 'string',
                      description: 'The id of the tool call.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'toolName',
                      type: 'string',
                      description:
                        'The name of the tool, which typically would be the name of the function.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'args',
                      type: 'object based on zod schema',
                      description:
                        'Parameters generated by the model to be used by the tool.',
                    },
                  ],
                },
              ],
            },
          ],
        },
        {
          type: 'CoreToolMessage',
          parameters: [
            {
              name: 'role',
              type: "'tool'",
              description: 'The role for the assistant message.',
            },
            {
              name: 'content',
              type: 'Array<ToolResultPart>',
              description: 'The content of the message.',
              properties: [
                {
                  type: 'ToolResultPart',
                  parameters: [
                    {
                      name: 'type',
                      type: "'tool-result'",
                      description: 'The type of the message part.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'toolCallId',
                      type: 'string',
                      description:
                        'The id of the tool call the result corresponds to.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'toolName',
                      type: 'string',
                      description:
                        'The name of the tool the result corresponds to.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'result',
                      type: 'unknown',
                      description:
                        'The result returned by the tool after execution.',
                    },
                    {
                      name: 'isError',
                      type: 'boolean',
                      isOptional: true,
                      description:
                        'Whether the result is an error or an error message.',
                    },
                  ],
                },
              ],
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'tools',
      type: 'Record<string, CoreTool>',
      description:
        'Tools that are accessible to and can be called by the model. The model needs to support calling tools.',
      properties: [
        {
          type: 'CoreTool',
          parameters: [
            {
              name: 'description',
              isOptional: true,
              type: 'string',
              description:
                'Information about the purpose of the tool including details on how and when it can be used by the model.',
            },
            {
              name: 'parameters',
              type: 'zod schema',
              description:
                'The schema of the input that the tool expects. The language model will use this to generate the input. It is also used to validate the output of the language model. Use descriptions to make the input understandable for the language model.',
            },
            {
              name: 'execute',
              isOptional: true,
              type: 'async (parameters) => any',
              description:
                'An async function that is called with the arguments from the tool call and produces a result. If not provided, the tool will not be executed automatically.',
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'toolChoice',
      isOptional: true,
      type: '"auto" | "none" | "required" | { "type": "tool", "toolName": string }',
      description:
        'The tool choice setting. It specifies how tools are selected for execution. The default is "auto". "none" disables tool execution. "required" requires tools to be executed. { "type": "tool", "toolName": string } specifies a specific tool to execute.',
    },
    {
      name: 'maxTokens',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description: 'Maximum number of tokens to generate.',
    },
    {
      name: 'temperature',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'Temperature setting. The value is passed through to the provider. The range depends on the provider and model. It is recommended to set either `temperature` or `topP`, but not both.',
    },
    {
      name: 'topP',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'Nucleus sampling. The value is passed through to the provider. The range depends on the provider and model. It is recommended to set either `temperature` or `topP`, but not both.',
    },
    {
      name: 'presencePenalty',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'Presence penalty setting. It affects the likelihood of the model to repeat information that is already in the prompt. The value is passed through to the provider. The range depends on the provider and model.',
    },
    {
      name: 'frequencyPenalty',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'Frequency penalty setting. It affects the likelihood of the model to repeatedly use the same words or phrases. The value is passed through to the provider. The range depends on the provider and model.',
    },
    {
      name: 'seed',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'The seed (integer) to use for random sampling. If set and supported by the model, calls will generate deterministic results.',
    },
    {
      name: 'maxRetries',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'Maximum number of retries. Set to 0 to disable retries. Default: 2.',
    },
    {
      name: 'abortSignal',
      type: 'AbortSignal',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'An optional abort signal that can be used to cancel the call.',
    },
    {
      name: 'maxAutomaticRoundtrips',
      type: 'number',
      isOptional: true,
      description:
        'Maximum number of automatic roundtrips for tool calls. An automatic tool call roundtrip is another LLM call with the tool call results when all tool calls of the last assistant message have results. A maximum number is required to prevent infinite loops in the case of misconfigured tools. By default, it is set to 0, which will disable the feature.',
    },
  ]}
/>

### Returns

<PropertiesTable
  content={[
    {
      name: 'text',
      type: 'string',
      description: 'The generated text by the model.',
    },
    {
      name: 'toolCalls',
      type: 'array',
      description: 'A list of tool calls made by the model.',
    },
    {
      name: 'toolResults',
      type: 'array',
      description:
        'A list of tool results returned as responses to earlier tool calls.',
    },
    {
      name: 'finishReason',
      type: "'stop' | 'length' | 'content-filter' | 'tool-calls' | 'error' | 'other' | 'unknown'",
      description: 'The reason the model finished generating the text.',
    },
    {
      name: 'usage',
      type: 'TokenUsage',
      description: 'The token usage of the generated text.',
      properties: [
        {
          type: 'TokenUsage',
          parameters: [
            {
              name: 'promptTokens',
              type: 'number',
              description: 'The total number of tokens in the prompt.',
            },
            {
              name: 'completionTokens',
              type: 'number',
              description: 'The total number of tokens in the completion.',
            },
            {
              name: 'totalTokens',
              type: 'number',
              description: 'The total number of tokens generated.',
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'rawResponse',
      type: 'RawResponse',
      optional: true,
      description: 'Optional raw response data.',
      properties: [
        {
          type: 'RawResponse',
          parameters: [
            {
              name: 'header',
              optional: true,
              type: 'Record<string, string>',
              description: 'Response headers.',
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'warnings',
      type: 'Warning[] | undefined',
      description:
        'Warnings from the model provider (e.g. unsupported settings).',
    },
    {
      name: 'responseMessages',
      type: 'Array<CoreAssistantMessage | CoreToolMessage>',
      description:
        'The response messages that were generated during the call. It consists of an assistant message, potentially containing tool calls.  When there are tool results, there is an additional tool message with the tool results that are available. If there are tools that do not have execute functions, they are not included in the tool results and need to be added separately.',
    },
  ]}
/>

## Examples

<ExamplesList packageName="core" functionName="generateText" />
